Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Well, to start off, the question should be whether such a suit is likely to be successful. You could sue, but would you win? I thin the most likely answer is "no," because a lender is not required to modify its contract with the borrower. The lender may choose to modify its agreement, but is not required to do so, and if it does not, the original deal remains in full force and effect. There may be other facts here pointing to some hope for a successful suit, including bad faith, but an experienced attorney's careful review would be necessary.

Mr. Whipple is correct. It is a big "maybe" whether you would be successful. It is going to depend on a lot of details, way too much detail to put in an internet Q&A. The basic rule is as Mr. Whipple states it - there is no obligation to modify unless the lender makes a specific promise to modify if certain things are done. Of course they are very careful not to make that kind of specific promise. So then the question becomes was what they DID say enough to mislead you to the point of it being fraud. Again, they're usually pretty careful not to cross that line, but maybe they did. Also, there is a law fairly recently in place that prohibits proceeding with foreclosure while working on a modification, but the law is detailed and whether it applies depends on the exact timing and details of what happened. The only way to tell if you have a case that might win is to go to an attorney in person with all the paperwork and go over the details of everything that happened.

One other VERY important warning: the time limits to do anything about a wrongful foreclosure are VERY short. VERY VERY short. Do not delay dealing with this or you will lose all chance to do anything even if you have a totally winning case.